No One Cares Anymore?

“No one care anymore!”

That’s what my client said at yesterday’s meeting in a disappointed way.

We are living in an auto-pilot society and almost everyone is only concerned

about making money, doing the deal, making the commission without caring about the

consequences for the client(s).

Where are people with values?

With a moral compass and care enough to tell a client they may be doing the

wrong thing for themselves and their families.

From big government to big corporations where the personal care is lost according to my client and friend.

How do we solve this problem in our communities and society?

Can we solve it in one generation when it has taken generations to get here?

What’s the point ? If the result is unhappy, unserved and not caring for people in our community.

We are too fixed in the process and on the process and the drive for money that we have lost caring.

Where does a client/ a person turn for help?

Yes there are a few caring realtors – but they are few and far between.

It’s all about the drive for commission that is what matters upper most and so the client’s real interests fall behind.

How do we even start to consider to solve this, if you believe it needs solving?

Leave your comments below and share your experiences with the rest of us – thanks in advance.

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Expanding Horizons

Getting a larger view of life is something a few of us work upon as we mature.

Others of us seem to evolve into this understanding as we experience life and gain an

understanding between what is important and what is not.

Learning any new subject or language, even a little travel seems to expand our world view

in immeasurable ways.

One of my dear family members who has passed away used to say to me,

“The more languages you know the more people you are.”

Language is not just the communication of words between two or more parties, it is the

transfer of culture, philosophy, history and art, foods, beliefs and fears of the people -

who’s language you are learning.

Travel can give you a quick and short flavour of the land and the people ( how they

live,work and play).

The architecture gives you a nice history of the land and heritage of the people

who lived there.

However with all things you must be open to receive this information, open minded and

mindful of all your observations and experiences as you travel and as you learn.

We are blessed in parts of North America where we have a good variety of people

with diverse backgrounds, they will save you on travelling to far and distant lands as you

engage with them.

As you share with them, a meal, an event, as you listen and explore each other’s heritage

and stories.

Be open to learning and growing and image the person you will grow into being.

Good luck with expanding your horizons…it will help you in your journey.

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Did Not Expect This

Surprise of the day, I was in a room full of realtors and discussed social media.

Not everyone was sold on it.

Everyone has not bought into the New World of Technology and social media marketing.

Old School realtors you say?

Possibly…. Here’s the quick survey we conducted and the results;

We asked who among you is on the following and do you use anything

of these social media venues for your real estate activities?

Users of Facebook :  43.24%

Twitter :  10.81%

LinkedIn :  37.83%

Youtube :    2.7%

Blog writers and Blog sites :   10.81% ( including AR,Blogspot, WordPress ,… )

Google +  :   5.40%

Foursquare :  2.7%

How many have their own websites :  45.94% .

We were surprised, negatively surprised.

More socking was how many actually made any money as a

direct consequence of all this social media work, networking,

of postings, twittering,etc. and all the hours spent doing it.

Result for this last question was 8.10% claimed they could connect any money earned from this activity . 

So who is making money from all this activity on all these social media, blogs postings, internet activity etc.? When will we make any money from all this activity realtors are starting to ask?

This was not a scientific study or finding, however the group determined it was the high tech industry that benefited the most and all those involved in it and not necessarily the realtors and companies supporting, contributing and paying for these avenues.

What are your thoughts? Leave your comment below and share your experiences with us – thanks in advance.

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Envoy Capital Realty Inc., brokerage      Toronto   , Canada

The above material is original material, if you wish to use it kindly request permission from Envoy Capitol Realty Inc.,brokerage with an email request ( capitalmoves@gmail.com). Thank you in advance.

                                                                      Only Original Material on this post!

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Toronto Leads In North America!

Just drive around this City of Toronto and you see and feel it.

You see the tall tall buildings rising, the condo showrooms and vip sale parties that roll out weekly.

The excitement and momentum that you feel when you drive, or walk around as the cranes work daily to

put up the pre-sold luxury condo residential units.

Seven residential condo projects,” totalling almost 3,800 new units, are close to or already

 under construction on  or close to Yonge Street south Bloor..” says Ben Myers of condo

research firm Urbanation. There are at least another seven, ” with a potential 3,565 units, are in the

planning stages, many incorporating heritage properties. It’s an unprecedented level of residential

construction along the subway corridor…” And there is more good news for the City and its real estate market,

no other North American city is said to come close to the 148 high-rises under construction now

according to a number of sources, dually referenced below.

 

“Buildings taller than 100 metres are counted as skyscrapers by the source for the above data (Emporis).”

(Globeinvestor Feb2012)


Things are going higher and higher in Toronto

Tridel’s Ten York residential condo project “was to be the tallest residential building in Canada at 75 storeys,

however Canderel’s Aura project just gained approval to increase its total to 78.” (Toronto Star)

So buildings will be getting taller and taller in Toronto with more density ( units ) in each project.

Is the infrastructure ready or being ready to handle the volume?

The TTC (subway and bus system operators) better be ready and much more efficient otherwise

we will be facing massive gridlock – only ways to move will be by bike or foot.

This maybe okay in the spring and summer months, however winter months with rain and

snow are usually less fun for most that need to get from point A to Z.

What are your thoughts , please share?

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Envoy Capitol Realty Inc.,brokerage    Toronto , Canada

Is Timing Everything?

They could have gotten more before, now they may have to settle for the best they can get when the commercial portfolio of properties comes to market.

Who can control time or the timing of going to market with your assets? Or for that matter when the best time to buy assets? Therein is the risk of investing and truthfully no one really knows, you leave when you are ready (or have to sell ) and you buy when you can ( have the money that needs a home).  In the article that follows there are some interesting points

“The leading office landlord in California’s Silicon Valley, Mission West Properties Inc., is preparing to sell itself to the highest bidder. But the selling price is likely to fall short of the $1.8 billion the company nearly fetched five years ago.

Carl Berg, the founder, chief executive and largest shareholder of Mission West, is giving suitors until Feb. 22 to submit bids. The real-estate investment trust owns more than 100 office buildings that stretch from San Jose to Cupertino, including sprawling research and development campuses that house Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp.

“If somebody wants to get a position in Silicon Valley, this is the best opportunity they’ll ever have,” said Mr. Berg, 74 years old. He said the company signed about 60 confidentiality agreements with interested private-equity firms, other REITs and foreign investors since it announced in December that it was exploring a sale.

This is the second time that Mr. Berg has put the company up for sale. In 2007, Starwood Capital Group agreed to pay $1.8 billion for the company. But the deal fell through one week before closing when lenders pulled out as the housing market began to sink.

Analysts now believe the company will be lucky to fetch $1 billion, or $10 a share, plus the assumption of $350 million in debt. Mission West shares were unchanged at $10.30 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading Tuesday.

Although the Silicon Valley economy is vibrant, values of commercial properties there and in many other suburban markets still haven’t returned to precrash levels as they have in some of the nation’s largest cities. That is in part because vacancies remain high.

Silicon Valley employers added 42,000 jobs last year, up 3.8% from 2010, according to a report compiled by two local nonprofits. Still, the area’s office vacancy rate was 21.9% in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to Reis Inc., a real-estate research firm. That was down from the 23% level in the second quarter of 2011.

AlamyMission West owns more than 100 office buildings, including the Microsoft campus above in Mountain View, Calif.

Mission West’s vacancy rate is higher than the average for the area. Even thought it owns some of the strongest buildings in the area, a large chuck of its portfolio remains battle-scarred from the technology bust a decade ago. About 30% of the properties have been vacant for the past five years and about half are located in the least-desirable areas of Silicon Valley in South San Jose.

“That kind of space is tough to lease,” said John Guinee, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus. Nonetheless, some analysts say, the Silicon Valley market is too good to pass up, particularly for an aggressive investor willing to raise debt to finance the redevelopment of Mission West’s older properties. REITs aren’t likely to bid aggressively because they have a lower risk tolerance and would be uneasy about the high vacancy.

“We tend to think that opportunity funds are more aggressive in these markets,” Mr. Guinee said. He anticipated between five to 10 bids for Mission West, mostly from private-equity funds with a local partner.

Mission West’s funds from operations, a profit metric for REITs, improved in the fourth quarter to 16 cents a share, compared with 11 cents in the same period last year.

Mr. Berg, cited by Forbes magazine as one of America’s wealthiest people with a net worth of around $1 billion, was one of the first developers to enter Silicon Valley. He built his first office building there, spanning 30,000 square feet, in 1969 with his partner at the time, John Sobrato. Mr. Berg now overseas eight million square feet of space in Silicon Valley after taking Mission West public in 1998.

Although the company won’t sell for as much as it could have in 2007, Mr. Berg says he can still make a handsome profit that will allow him to quit real estate and focus on his venture-capital fund that invests in biotech and pharmaceutical companies.

“I’m having a lot more fun doing that after 40 years in real estate,” Mr. Berg said.

So it takes time to get there, in terms of business and life. Are you patient enough to wait decades to get rich in real estate?

Is this level of concentration in an area risky?

Or should an investor diversify more both geographically and category wise?

What are your thoughts on these questions? Leave a comment below and share your experiences…

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Envoy Capitol Realty Inc., brokerage         Toronto ,  Canada

Great By Design

In a quick look at a book entitled Great by Choice by Jim Collins  and Morten T. Hansen, they

speak about 10X companies – a sample of which is Southwestern Airlines.

Although the air lines business is a challenging one and probably even a worst investment recommendation

for buy and hold investors the authors tell a great story about the yield an investor would have achieved .

Had this investor been lucky enough to have $10,000 in 1972 and put it all into Southwestern and  hold it there for thirty years.

This investor’s investment would have grown to be worth $ 12 million dollars by 2002 !

Extraordinary !

What was the annual average compounded rate of growth for this investor?

Here’s the math on it;

Using a HP 10 BII calculator ; set your compounding to 1 P/YR    END

Then plug in the numbers :     30 into [N]

10,000 [+/-] into [PV]     ,    0 into [ PMT]  ,  12,000,000 [FV]   and solve for  [I/YR] by pressing it.

Solution that should pop on your display is :  26.66 % average annual rate of compounded growth.

We are not recommended any stock investment, please speak to your financial advisor before buying any investment opportunity.

We still like real estate as our preferred investment vehicle.

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Envoy Capitol Realty Inc., brokerage      Toronto, Canada

Living Large and Well in the U.S.

What a great blessing it is to be building large homes now, for both the people that

are being employed and the finished product which will be a wonderful palace for the family that resides there.

 The large amount of property taxes that will be assessed against all the new improvements to these

properties will benefit the towns and cities with the good fortune to be chosen to be the homes for these projects.

They are building projects like there is no problem and there is no tomorrow… in a recent Wall Street Journal article, by Juliet Chung, (February 10, 2012) she illustrates the large homes being built in the U.S. by those that can with money they earned or otherwise have received.

Also check out the Video presentation with exterior pictures of these awesome homes, they are beyond homes – they are commercial projects at this scale of construction. What are your thoughts? How do you define a home and what do you need today to be comfortable in a home?

( Leave your comments below)

“Architects and builders say it could be the largest single-family residential compound planned in the country: a 100,000-square-foot compound—more than 60,000 square feet of living space, the balance being space such as patios and garages—in the early stages of construction.

Architectural plans filed with the city call for at least nine buildings to make up the mountainside compound, some connected by tunnels or bridges, with a man-made river winding its way in a loop in front of several buildings. A pair of three-story towers containing slides would make up the “tower building,” dumping riders into a swimming pool below. A “spa building” would have massage rooms, a weight room, game room, salon and locker rooms. Other buildings planned for the property would include a guest house, a guard house, a pool cabana and a “retreat building” with eight bedrooms, two living rooms, a great room and a garage.

Made of three connected buildings—dubbed “wings,” on the plans—the main home, including roofed outdoor areas, would total more than 77,000 square feet. Plans show at least five elevators and a two-level basement with a basketball court, swimming pool, men’s and women’s locker rooms and a “vehicle display room.” In addition to the usual bedrooms and living areas, the house would include a game room, DJ room, music studio, theater and bowling alley. A ballroom would measure about 2,100 square feet, according to plans filed with the city; the master bath-and-closet area, about 2,900 square feet.

“It started smaller than this and it took on a life of its own,” says Sue Landreth, a supervisor in Scottsdale’s development services department, which reviews plans and issues permits for construction.”

Do you really need this kind of space?  Who these owners are and where/how they got the money is a secondary discussion point? The primary point of interest is; Is this what people want if they had the money? What do clients want in 2012 housing? Do they have the money to buy it , build it, and more important keep it? Who should qualify them? Is it the realtor’s job to tell a client “sorry you can’t afford this – you may end up losing it to either the bank or the government in the future”? What are your thoughts?

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U.S. Housing Weakness Impediment to Consumer Confidence and Recovery

Consumers and their confidence has been shaken, and they are not spending as they use to  because of the weak

housing market and it’s the impediment to a robust economic recovery for the U.S.

The catch-22 problem that fiscal and monetary policy makers face as they think of cures for the weakness and lack of confidence.

This is the summary comments of the Chairman of the Federal Reserve and their concerns going forward.

Some of the Chair’s other comments follow ;

Mr. Bernanke says the broader economy won’t fully recover until the depressed housing market turns around.

People are spending less because they are stuck in “underwater” homes, which are worth less than what

is owed on the mortgage. And home values are falling because of foreclosures and tight credit — even in

areas with lower unemployment.

“Recent declines in housing wealth may be reducing consumer spending between $200 billion and

$375-billion per year. That reduction corresponds to lower living standards for many Americans,” Mr. Bernanke said.

The Fed chairman said there’s no “silver bullet” to rescue the housing market.

Renting out foreclosed homes and reducing or modifying mortgages are among steps that could help.

“Low or negative equity creates additional problems for households,” Mr. Bernanke said.

“It reduces financial flexibility: Homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages cannot tap

home equity to pay for emergency health expenses or their children’s college educations.

There have been modest signs of improvement in recent months. Sales of previously occupied homes rose in the last three months. Homebuilders are more optimistic after seeing more people express interest in buying this year. And home construction picked up in the final quarter of last year, which helped housing contribute to broader economic growth.

Still, last year was the weakest for new-home sales on records dating back to 1963.

Sales of previously occupied homes have also been at depressed levels.

And home prices continue to fall. ( Globe & Mail, 2/10/2012)

Will time be the ultimate cure to this pain?

What are your thoughts? Share with a comment below.

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Envoy Capitol Realty Inc.,brokerage           Toronto ,  Canada

Feathers Were Flying !

Feathers were flying over the past several weeks in Toronto City Hall whether to

change the Official Plan and accommodating zoning by-laws to permit chickens.

Yes over chickens, raising them in one’s backyard.

Some people in a few areas have taken upon themselves to raise chickens in their

backyards – not as pets, but for consumption.

This goes against City’s policies.

Those engaged in this chicken movement, raising them in their backyards claim it is a

fun and educational exercise.

They love their fresh eggs.

This urban agriculture movement is pushing for a by-law change to allow it.

The City considered lifting the ban on raising poultry – however in the end

decided not to go down that road…

What are your thoughts?

Should we all grow some of our own food supply in our backyard?

Or is it a bigger issue of whether our cities have been planned /designed to deal in a healthy

way in raising poultry and other farm animals? Share your comments with us…

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Building Permits Up!

The Canadian housing building permits are at a Five Year High!

Is this the beginning of a Canadian housing bubble which some fear is forming?

The is an interesting economic discussion at the following link which tries to explain some of these questions and more:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/video/video-is-a-canadian-housing-bubble-forming/article2330632/

Chief Economist ( Altus Group ) Peter Norman says ;

” There is No Bubble right now.”

Things are relatively good and in balance.

Household formations now account for 50% of rentals ( as opposed to ownership ).

Canada’s population grew by 5.9% to a Canadian population of 33.5 million.

Mr. Norman says, ” The Degree of Debt being taken on by Canadians is okay and not out of line.”

The Journalist on BNN asked the economist a good questions which will need to be further explored in a future blog;

There is a whole lot of condominium construction going on in Toronto.

” Does Condo over building, which may cause a future price decline in Condo’s does this

result in a consequential price decline on the single family houses ?”

The answer Peter Norman gave was -” not necessarily. The single family homes are in good

balance on a supply and demand basis – in Toronto.”

At Envoy Capitol Realty Inc., we see the current equilibrium in single detached homes in Toronto.

There is always a difference whether a client is purchasing for own use versus investment considerations.

Always use the appropriate local professional who can advise on your individual circumstances for your protection.

What are your thoughts on this question? Leave a comment below and share your insights,thanks in advance.

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Envoy Capitol Realty Inc.,brokerage      Toronto , Canada